Sunday, 23 March 2014

Chinese satellite spots large new object could be related to missing MH370

The
Chinese embassy here confirmed Saturday that Chinese satellite spotted a
22-meter-long and 13-meter-wide floating object along the southern
corridor missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 might
have taken. Malaysian acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein,
who placed the size of the object at 22 meters by 30 meters at a press
conference, later corrected his statement. Photo: Xinhua / State
Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense

The satellite images,
which China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry
for National Defense said were taken Tuesday, show that the
22-meter-long, 13-meter-wide object was about 120 km southwest of
suspicious debris, one of which was of similar size, captured by an
Australian satellite (belonged to DigitalGlobe Inc, an
American Colorado-based company that collects imagery for the US government and
other countries, as well as private companies ) two days earlier and announced by Australian
authorities Thursday.

Malaysian acting Transport Minister
Hishammuddin Hussein put the size of the object at 22 meters by 30
meters at a press conference, but later corrected his statement.

Australia's
acting prime minister Warren Truss said Saturday the suspicious objects
remained "the best lead" in the massive search for the missing flight.

The
objects might have either drifted or sunk, but "if there's something to
be found, I'm confident this search will find it," Truss told a press
conference.

The hunt would continue "indefinitely" until "we are
absolutely satisfied that further searching would be futile," he said.
"That day is not in sight."

In response to Xinhua queries, he
said there were many explanations for the satellite images provided by
the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) but they remained "a
very credible lead."

What Australia needed to do now was exert all possible efforts to search for the missing plane, he told Xinhua.

On
Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the Australian
satellite had spotted two objects, one 24 meters long, in the southern
Indian Ocean possibly related to the Boeing 777 aircraft which
disappeared early March 8 while carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to
Beijing.

The discovery led the multinational search forces to
focus on a 36,000-square-km sea area about 2,500 km southwest of Perth,
but so far there have been no findings of note.

Meanwhile, two
Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft from the Chinese Air Force left Malaysia on
Saturday for Australia to join the search in the southern Indian Ocean.

With
Australian and New Zealand airforce P3 Orions limited by the vast
distances and their dependence on infrared imaging, the Chinese IL-76
will be a welcome relief to the authorities here as the challenges of
the task at hand begin to overwhelm available resources.

Commander
Liu Dianjun told Xinhua he hoped the integration of Chinese military
assets could precipitate a swift conclusion to the agonizing
international search.

A Malaysian military official said the
arrival of the Chinese aircraft beefed up the assets deployed for the
search and rescue operation and boosted confidence of all the staff from
different countries involved in the operation.

Truss also said the same day the arrival of Chinese military aircraft had provided a glimmer of hope.

A Chinese joint working group also paid two visits to family members of Chinese passengers on Saturday and Wednesday.

Guo
Shaochun, head of the Chinese task force, said two weeks had passed
since flight MH370 went missing and they were as anxious as the family
members about what happened to the passengers.

Guo said the
Chinese government attached great importance to coordinating support
with Malaysia for the family members, and the Malaysian authorities said
they would always be responsible.

"Please be at ease and take
good care of yourselves, whether staying in Malaysia or leaving the
country, your choice will be respected," he said.

Family members
said their major concern was to find their loved ones, and they hoped
Malaysia would keep them posted about any findings and intensify search
and investigation efforts.

Meanwhile, the Indian government told
Malaysian investigators it had found no evidence the missing jet flew
through its airspace after checking its radar records, local media
reported Saturday.

India's response is crucial, as any of their
radar data could help identify whether the jet turned north or south
after disappearing off radar, but the issue is also sensitive because of
the presence of military radar. - Xinhua